Abstract
Recently, wearable, self-powered, active human motion sensors have attracted a great deal of attention for biomechanics, physiology, kinesiology, and entertainment. Although some progress has been achieved, new types of stretchable and wearable devices are urgently required to promote the practical application. In this article, targeted at self-powered active human motion sensing, a stretchable, flexible, and wearable triboelectric nanogenerator based on kinesio tapes (KT-TENG) haven been designed and investigated systematically. The device can effectively work during stretching or bending. Both the short-circuit transferred charge and open-circuit voltage exhibit an excellent linear relationship with the stretched displacements and bending angles, enabling its application as a wearable self-powered sensor for real-time human motion monitoring, like knee joint bending and human gestures. Moreover, the KT-TENG shows good stability and durability for long-term operation. Compared with the previous works, the KT-TENG without a macro-scale air gap inside, or stretchable triboelectric layers, possesses various advantages, such as simple fabrication, compact structure, superior flexibility and stability, excellent conformable contact with skin, and wide-range selection of triboelectric materials. This work provides a new prospect for a wearable, self-powered, active human motion sensor and has numerous potential applications in the fields of healthcare monitoring, human-machine interfacing, and prosthesis developing.
Highlights
Wearable electronics have undergone a vast development and are highly desirable for commercial, medical, and military applications [1,2]
Wearable human motion sensors have emerged as a promising sub-category and shown significant potential in biomedical monitoring, human-machine interfacing, sport sensing, and prosthesis development [3,4,5]
The macro-scale air gap is generally unsuitable for wearable electronics because this type of structure cannot form conformal contact with skin and will consume extra space of the compact-structure wearable devices [10]
Summary
Wearable electronics have undergone a vast development and are highly desirable for commercial, medical, and military applications [1,2]. The macro-scale air gap is generally unsuitable for wearable electronics because this type of structure cannot form conformal contact with skin and will consume extra space of the compact-structure wearable devices [10] From this perspective, the devices based on the lateral mode without any gap inside may be applicable for wearable body motion sensors. Yi et al [36] proposed a stretchable-rubber-based TENG with single-electrode mode which was used as a self-powered body motion senor This structure requires at least one of the triboelectric layers to be stretchable, which largely restricts the broad range of material selections. In comparison with the previously-reported devices, the KT-TENG, which does not require a macro-scale air gap inside, or triboelectric layers to be stretchable, exhibits numerous advantages including simple fabrication, compact structure without an air gap, superior stretchability and flexibility, excellent conformable contact with the skin, and wide-range selection of triboelectric materials. This work proposes a new device structure and approach for self-powered human motion sensor which may contribute profoundly to the further development of this field
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